Floor mats having a textile surface and a rubber backing are very well known and have been manufactured for many years. Typically, such mats include a tufted pile textile surface, for example of nylon, cotton, polypropylene or a mixture of such fibres, which is bonded to a rubber backing sheet. Such mats are usually made by bonding the textile surface layer to a sheet of uncured rubber in a heated press. The heat from the press vulcanises (cures) the rubber and at the same time bonds it to the textile layer. A process for manufacturing such mats is described in EP 0 367 441 A. Such mats have very good dust control characteristics, are highly effective at removing dirt and moisture from the feet of pedestrians, and have a good feel and appearance. The mats are also washable, extremely durable, highly flexible and lie flat on the floor.
Rubber backed floor mats with surfaces made of other textiles are also known. These textiles may include knitted, woven, or non-woven fabrics (such as needle felts or spun-bonded fabrics), with or without a pile or raised nap, as well as flocked surfaces. The textile surface may be bonded under pressure to a rubber backing sheet, using a process similar to that described above. Other mats and mat-like products, such as table mats and bar runners, have also been made in a similar fashion.
One disadvantage of the mats described above is that they tend to be rather expensive, owing to the relatively high cost of the rubber backing material. As a result, those mats have enjoyed only limited commercial success in certain market sectors, where a lower cost product is required. For example, in the commercial and retail or residential market sectors, rubber backed dust control mats have achieved a market penetration of only about 5% of total mat sales, the remainder of the matting sold into this market sector being either unbacked or backed with PVC or latex.
However, PVC and latex backed mats do have a number of disadvantages as compared with conventional rubber backed mats. In particular, PVC backed mats have poor flexibility, especially at low temperatures, and after being unrolled such mats often do not lie flat on the floor. They also have an inferior appearance and feel when compared with rubber backed mats, can become brittle with age, and can have poor resistance to movement when placed on top of carpet. There are also growing environmental concerns associated with the manufacture and disposal of PVC backed mats. These disadvantages have, however, been tolerated in certain market sectors, owing to the lower cost of the mats.
Recycled rubber has been used effectively at a low cost substitute for virgin rubber in certain applications. Some examples of such applications are discussed below:
EP 0135595 describes a method for manufacturing a floor covering in the form of a web, which may be used as a sports surface. The web consists of a lower textile base and an upper layer of disintegrated waste rubber and/or granules of new or scrap rubber that has been mixed with a pre-polymer as a solvent-free single-component binder, spread on a conveyor belt, compressed and subsequently cured.
DE 4212757 describes a moulded component forming an elastic layer and comprising a mixture of granulated recycled material and binders. The component has three compressed layers of uniform thickness bonded together at their interfaces. Upper and middle layers are formed by flat plates and the lower layer has hump-shaped feet separated by grooves. The individual layers are formed in different materials with different particle sizes. The component can be used as a covering, for example for floors.
A mat with a compression moulded rubber crumb backing and having a flock surface applied to the backing is available under the brand name “Royal mat”. The compression moulded backing is made by mixing rubber crumb with a binder and then compressing a layer of the mixture in a mould at a high pressure while the binder bonds the crumbs together. The flocked textile surface is subsequently applied to the backing using an adhesive.
Compression moulding produces a rubber crumb backing that has a high density and low deformability. This makes the mat heavy and inflexible, with the result that it does not conform well to the shape of the floor beneath it. The mat does not therefore have the performance characteristics of a conventional rubber backed mat.
Rubber carpet underlay manufactured from lightly bonded crumb rubber is also known. The underlay is however made without any significant pressure and as a result it is not sufficiently well bonded to make it durable enough for use as a mat backing.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid applications, recycled rubber does not have the same performance characteristics as virgin rubber. In particular, it has a lower tear resistance and a higher stiffness, owing to the presence of a binder material. As a result, recycled rubber has not generally been thought suitable for use as the backing material for a mat, since it has been thought to offer no significant advantages over PVC.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method of making a mat using recycled rubber, which produces a mat that overcomes the performance shortcomings of PVC backed mats and compression moulded mats and avoids the relatively high cost associated with conventional rubber-backed mats.